Circle B Farms named UMaine food aggregator

Circle B Farms in Caribou was recently named as the University of Maine system’s food aggregator for northern Maine.

The Aroostook Republican reported that Sodexo, the French food service provider that holds a $12 million per year contract with the UMaine system, hired Circle B Farms to bring more locally grown food to UMaine campuses at Fort Kent, Presque Isle, Machias and Orono. The hire was made as part of a goal to locally source 20% of all UMaine food by 2020. The campuses so far source 17% of their food from 100 local farmers and food producers.

Circle B will be working with more than a dozen area producers to help Sodexo buy local produce.

“Being a better customer for our local growers and processors complements the traditional research and programming support our institutions have been providing to generations of farmers, fishermen and foresters,” Sam Collins, chairman of the UMaine board of trustees, said at a recent meeting.

Sodexo was chosen as the University of Maine System’s new food service vendor in early 2016 after a six-month search that followed the university system’s announcement in 2015 that it would be ending a decade-long contract with Aramark. Sodexo's North American division is based in Gaithersburg, Md.

The UMaine system also decided in 2015 to source 20% of its food locally, a goal the system initially aimed to accomplish by the first year of its contract, and hoped to surpass by 2020 with a goal of locally sourcing 25% to 30% of its food.